A late-night fire on Tuesday razed over 500 shops at the Jos Main Market, destroying goods worth millions of naira. Although no lives were lost, traders have been left devastated by the incident, the cause of which remains unknown.
Chairman of the market, Mustapha Ibrahim Bako, who spoke to African Drum, expressed frustration over the slow response of the fire service. According to him, the fire broke out around 11pm, but fire fighters failed to arrive promptly despite multiple calls for help.
“I received information that the fire incident started at about 11pm, but can’t really tell you the cause of the fire. However, I want to let you know for sure that the incident is not as a result of electrical fault, as we always make sure that the main fuse was removed before we leave the market,” Bako said.
He added that he went personally to the fire service office on Masallachi Jumma’a Street after they failed to respond to his phone call, only to discover that their operational vehicles were not functional.
“After making a phone call informing them about the incident and they failed to come, I had to personally go to their office along Masallachi Jumma’a street and I noticed that all their operational vehicles were grounded.
“So, I had to put a phone call to the Honourable Member Representing Jos North-North in the Plateau State House of Assembly, Adamu Aliyu, who in turn, put a call to Government House, which led to the arrival of one fire fighter vehicle from Bukuru.
“However, that one vehicle could not battle the flames as the water in the truck got finished, and before they returned after refilling the vehicle, the whole market was razed down completely and this got the victims infuriated,” he explained.
Bako appealed to the Plateau State Government to urgently rebuild the market and compensate the affected traders.
Victims of the fire, including Haruna Abbas, Abdullahi Alkasir, Kaneng Mike, Nakom Gotum, and Hauwa Adam, also called on the state government for support, describing their losses as a major setback.
“We are delighted in the way and manner the administration of Governor Caleb Mutfwang is conducting the affairs of governance,” said Haruna Abbas on behalf of the affected traders.
“We are even more delighted that we were instrumental to the emergence of this administration. It is for this reason that we are calling on Governor Caleb Mutfwang to take what happened to us with high degree of consideration. Our livelihood is gone. We are pleading with the governor to come to our aid,” he added.
Meanwhile, the chaos provided an opportunity for looting, as some criminals reportedly broke into shops outside the affected areas, stealing valuable items.
Efforts to obtain a response from the Director of the Plateau State Fire Service, Caleb Polit, were unsuccessful at press time. However, a fire service personnel, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak, refuted the market chairman’s claims.
“It’s not true that all our vehicles are grounded. It’s also not true that we did not respond to the distress call. We did, and as we arrived at the scene, we were attacked by the traders as they stoned and refused us access to the scene,” the source said.
An official statement from the authorities is still being awaited.